'The Darkness Inside the Human Soul': Uncertainty in Theological Humanism and Michael Frayn's Play Copenhagen

Abstract

Michael Frayn's play, Copenhagen, dramatises as a ghost story the conver sation concerning the moral implications of atomic fission among Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, and his wife, Margrethe Bohr, in September 1941. This paper argues that the play generalises from the famous uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics to present the necessary appearance of uncertainty at the historical, moral, and theological levels of reflection. The paper traces the meaning of uncertainty back to the 'being of the self' as a cipher for divine transcendence, and it interprets the meaning of uncertainty for the theory and method of theological humanism. How incredible it is that Michael Frayn's play, Copenhagen, is so successful on the world stage! Copenhagen won the 2000 Tony Award for best play, packed theatres in Europe and the United States, and provoked symposia and newspaper commentaries wherever it travelled. One would think that a play based on conversations among Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, and his wife, Margrethe Bohr, would be a big-time bomb. Contrary to such expectations, the play is absolutely gripping. What is the secret of its success? I propose that this play surprises its audience by appealing to it at multiple levels that engage the central concerns of theological humanism. Specifically, the play is revelatory in a very odd sense that is nonetheless theological: it discloses the structure of uncertainty not just in quantum mechanics, but more importantly at the historical, moral, and theological levels of human thinking and hence experiencing. What is surprising is that ordi narily we associate revelation with certainty. In this play, however, what